The present invention relates to a color image displaying device which can be used as a monitoring display for an electronic still video camera.
Conventionally, electronic still video cameras provided with LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) used for displaying reproduced color images of objects are known. In the electronic still video camera, which is capable of capturing color images, color filters are provided in front of the image receiving element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), and image signals corresponding to a plurality of color components are generated by the CCD and stored in a recording medium such as a flash memory, respectively.
Generally, the LCD of the electronic still camera is capable of displaying the same image as captured by the CCD. In other words, an aspect ratio, or the ratio of the length of a horizontal edge (i.e., the width) to the length of a vertical edge (i.e., the height) of the image receiving area of the CCD is similar to that of the LCD- Further, in the electronic still video camera, what is displayed on the LCD is stored in a recording medium such as a flash memory as it is. In other words, in the electronic still video camera, the LCD functions as a finder, and what is seen on the LCD is what is stored in the recording medium.
On the other hand, in a well-known camera using a film as the recording medium, and provided with an optical finder system, what is observed through the optical finder system coincides with what is recorded (i.e., photographed on the film), since the aspect ratio of the finder frame is similar to the aspect ratio of the photographing frame of the film.
When the functions of the above-described cameras, i.e., the electronic still video camera and the normally used optical camera are incorporated in one camera, a problem indicated below arises.
Generally, the aspect ratio of the film frame is less than the aspect ratio of the image receiving surface of the CCD. That is, when the widths of the image receiving area and the light receiving area have the same length, the height of the film frame is less than the height of the image receiving area of the CCD.
If the aspect ratio of the LCD remains similar to the aspect ratio of the image receiving area of the CCD, and if an image is to be recorded on the film, a problem arises in that the image displayed on the LCD is different from what is recorded on the film. Specifically, in the above case, the upper portion (and/or the lower portion) of the image displayed on the LCD, at a landscape framing, may not be recorded on the recording medium (i.e., on the film) due to the difference of the aspect ratios between the image receiving area of the recording medium and the image displayed on the screen of the LCD. If such an LCD is used as a finder for the camera, the displayed image does not coincide with the image to be recorded.